The Speaker of the Transitional Parliament has rejected calls by civil society groups to suspend business until the peace process is concluded.

The two leaders are currently in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, where they held one-on-one discussions Wednesday evening.

The outcome of the meeting is yet to be publicized.

On Tuesday, renowned Kenyan Lawyer PLO Lumumba appealed to the principals to use the face-to-face talks to sacrifice their personal ambitions for the sake of peace.

The more than 200 civil society organizations petitioned the parliament to suspend debating the budget for the 2018/2019 fiscal year, saying peace is the priority.

The 81.6-billion-Pound draft budget was expected to be presented before the MPs yesterday, but was postponed to next week. It’s not clear why.

After the civil society groups presented the document to the speaker, Hon. Anthony Lino Makana first appreciated the move but disagreed with the activists.

He believes it is through the budget the civil servants will receive their salaries.

“So to suspend debating the budget, then we will not be able to help the masses because the budget is very important,” Hon. Makana said.

“It’s out of the budget that we deliver services to the population; if was other issues, no problem.”